– gov’t committed to improving life of every Guyanese, says President

By Nafeeza Yahya-Sakur

WHILE distributing some 800 hampers in the East Canje area in East Berbice, President, Dr Irfaan Ali, has assured residents that his life as President is committed for the betterment of every Guyanese and he will do everything in his power to provide a better life for all.

“Every day of my life is committed to you the people, not only of Gangaram, Berbice but to the people of Guyana; everyday will be committed to do the best. I aim to make life easier, to make
improvements to your community and to bring improvements to your own life,” he said.

The President was, at the time, addressing residents in Gangaram, where he distributed hampers to residents. The hampers which contained a month’s supply of groceries and cleaning supplies were given to 800 families in the villages of Gangaram, Betsy Ground, Goed Bananaen Land, Adelphi, Reliance and Canefield.

Speaking directly to the retrenched workers and their families, the President said he knows of the tremendous difficulties they have been facing, along with the fact that much help was not afforded them over the past few years. He assured them that a plan of action, as promised in the manifesto was being implemented.

“We know that there were promises in the manifesto and we know that we are committed to those promises…. We are not shying away from that. I want to assure you that we are going to work aggressively, every day, so that economic livelihood can come back in these communities. We are going to work to support your own livelihood and we have already appointed a new REO. We expect that between the chair, REO and the leadership in the region that you will have continuous consultations in the communities,” the President said.

He noted that while there is a lot that the government would like to get done, the lack of finance, due to the depleted treasury the government inherited from the previous administration, has placed the present administration in a difficult state.

“The liabilities that were left that we now have to clear up, the room for the emergency budget does not allow that great flexibility in what we would like to do and what we want to achieve. We are also planning on a much larger budget for early next year, outside of the liability that we have to take care of this year,” he said.

MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENTS
The President also noted that there will be some major announcements before the end of the week and the release of resources into the economy that will make the lives of all Guyanese better.

“Before the end of this week, too, I will be addressing the country on a number of measures that we are going to bring in place that will bring immediate relief to your life, that will release immediately, resources in the economy, so that more money will be available in the economy, so that your cost of living will be reduced and those are some of the campaign promises. We are costing them right now and before the end of the week, I will be addressing the country about the immediate measures that will be taken,” he said.

Touching on the COVID-19 pandemic, the President implored the residents to take the situation seriously and adhere to the guidelines, while noting that more resources were being sought to help in the fight.

“The pandemic is not a joke, wearing your mask is absolutely essential when you are in pubic, adhering to the guidelines is absolutely essential in safeguarding you, your family and your community, so I want to implore upon you to please do your part in helping us to deal with COVID-19 and to ensure we rise through this period as successfully as possible and that we save lives. All of us have to play a part in this,” President Ali told the gathering.

PUTTING MONEY IN EVERY HOME

Government is also vigorously trying to secure additional funding to ensure measures are in place for everyone, and has been engaging the private sector and other stakeholders on the best way forward.

“We have set aside already $5B; we are trying now to raise and additional $2B to help in COVID relief, that is outside of the household foodstuff. We are trying to put money into every single family home before the end of this year so that we can give you some amount of help in dealing with COVID,” he said.

The residents also had the opportunity to air their concerns to the President which included the provision of proper recreational facilities, state of roads and provision of essential services such as healthcare, water and electricity as well as job creation.

The president reassured the residents that his government remains committed in ensuring that their concerns are addressed.

“We are trying to reconfigure resources that were there to help more at the household level… a lot of work is going on to mobilise new resources to find resources and to bring together the pieces of government so that we can pursue the agenda in our manifesto, so that we can pursue better programmes for you. We are also going to start an aggressive investment programme for agriculture. We have to support agriculture, we have to support farmers. So you will see a lot of these things being rolled out very shorty, but, like I said, we are faced with a difficulty in this budget in the sense that a lot of liabilities in the previous government are there taking up the room in this budget. We are also looking to ensure how we can include the private sector, the business community, the farmers. We want everyone to be a part of the development shift that will take place,” the President assured.

Maharani Lalta Persaud, 67, of Adelphi, was moved to tears as she received her hamper. She expressed gratitude and blessings to the President and all stakeholders who contributed to assisting with the hamper.